“Am not,” I said, tipping my chin. “Sunshine is a lovely person. And a very good server.”
“Ouch,” Kai said, wincing. “Might have heard a little snobbery in there. A lowly server, not a chef. At least she could go on a date more than once a month.” He still smiled, but I heard a quiet rumble of discontent underneath his words.
I kept my arms around him, forcing him to stay close to me. “I’m working on that,” I said, starting to kiss his check, his neck, his lower lip. “This too shall pass. Maybe sooner than later.”
“Mmm,” he said, not appearing to be as interested in conversation as he had been moments prior. “That’s nice.”
“Kai! Kai! Stop lip-locking and get yourself over here! And bring the girl !”
Kai groaned into my hair. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I giggled, peeking around his shoulders at the woman waving at us from the open kitchen window. “Is that Dahlia?”
“Nope,” he said, dragging his feet and me behind him. “It’s the other one. Apparently Gemma drove all the way from Portland to meet you.”
“Portland’s five hours away!”
“These women will stop at nothing to make me uncomfortable.”
I laughed. “This day gets better and better,” I said, dodging Kai as he tried to pull me back to the car and Seattle. I quickened my pace to match his determined stride. Still laughing, I said, “I’m so excited there are two of them.” I waved to Gemma, who was bouncing on the top step of the porch.
“Let’s do this,” Kai said, begrudgingly. “The sooner we start, the sooner it’s over. And in advance, I’ll just apologize now for the stories about my acne in junior high, my indescretions at Homecoming sophomore year when I asked two girls to the dance but didn’t tell them that, and, always a family favorite, the story of when I bet Morris Harper I could beat him in a cherry pie eating contest and I ended up on IV fluids.”
I tried to tamp down my grin but wasn’t entirely successful. “This is going to be fantastic.”
Kai shook his head as we ascended the stairs and became enveloped in a three-person hug with Gemma.
“Charlie, we have so much to talk about!” Gemma said into my hair. I saw Kai raise one eyebrow in victory.
15
FRIDAY morning, back at Thrill and a world away from the laughter and comfort food of Forsythia Farms, I paced along the back hallway outside Avery’s office. I’d arrived early for the meeting Margot had called in a late-night email, and I wanted to take the extra minutes to rehearse my lines. Not lines for an upcoming episode, but lines for my speech. I could hear a murmur of voices behind the door, and I knew Margot, Vic, and Avery were already inside. Turning my back to the door, I began walking again, deciding to wait a few more moments before knocking.
A thousand years prior, I had competed on the debate team for one semester in high school. What were the maxims of oral persuasion again? I tried to remember the acronym … PCPF? Posture, Clarity, Poise, Focus? Or were they Posture, Clarity, Purpose, and Finality? I knew posture had to be in there because we used to mock Trish Friars for her exceptional, nipple-noteworthy posture during her turn on the stand.
Turning back once I reached the end of the hallway, I rolled my shoulders and cleared my throat, the sound bouncing off the quiet walls of the kitchen. With one last deep breath, I came to stand in front of Avery’s office door. I knocked a peppy rhythm with my knuckles, and the door swung open.
Vic clasped his hands. “There she is,” he said in a radio announcer voice. We air kissed, and he opened one arm to allow me into the cramped room. “A few days off can make all the difference, can’t they? Doesn’t she look refreshed and renewed, folks?”
Avery sat in one of three chairs gathered into a tight semi-circle. His expression was difficult to read. Chagrined, or maybe brooding? He turned to nod at me but didn’t rise from his chair.
Margot leaned against Avery’s desk. A half smile formed on her thin, painted lips. “You look great, Charlie. How was your vacation?”
It struck me as a bit ridiculous that we were calling thirty-six hours a “vacation,” but I played along. “It was wonderful. Thank you.” I sat down in the chair offered by Vic and tucked my ankles under the seat in an effort to avoid knee-knocking one of the men.
“Good,” Margot said, voluminous gold hoops swinging when she directed a chin nod at Avery. “We were just chatting with Avery about the response from Network. We sent them some footage from the last few weeks, and they were very pleased, much more so than with the pilot we filmed before you arrived, Charlie.”
I managed a weak smile. About that …